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“Morning,” he answered, not looking up. “Marissa will be here shortly. She will get you set up with all your paperwork. There’s a coffee machine in the corner. Help yourself.”
“Thanks,” she said. She wasn’t sure if she should be offended that he didn’t look up...or relieved.
Liv walked back into the outer office and fiddled with the coffee machine until Marissa came. She spent the first day filling out paperwork and getting through the required training.
At the end of the day, everyone gathered in the outer office for a meeting.
“Marissa, John, how are those numbers looking for the budget negotiations?” Will said.
“We are really in the weeds,” John said, shuffling some papers. “I'm worried we won’t have them ready in time.”
Will nodded slowly.
“Liv,” he said. “I’d like you to work on those numbers with John and Marissa the rest of this week. Now, we have the...”
“No,” Liv said. Everyone turned and stared at her. The room fell silent.
“Hmm?” Will said, thinking he had surely misheard her.
“I can’t work on the budget numbers; I need to work on the Clean Water Bill,” she said, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
“The budget negotiations are coming up,” he said, strumming his fingers on his leg. “We need all hands-on deck.”
“No.”
He stared at her. She returned his stare - neither of them flinching.
“Mateo and Taylor, will you please finish up the summaries and run them to Senator Brown’s office before you leave?” he said, standing up. “That’s everything for today. Great work everyone. I’ll see you tomorrow. Liv, can I see you in my office?”
No one moved except Liv who stood up and walked into his office with her head held high.
He shut the door behind her and walked behind his desk. She could see a vein popping out of his forehead; his jaw clenched.
“I’m here to work on the Clean Water Bill,” she said. “If I can’t do that, I will quit. It’s the only thing that’s important to me.”
He just stared at her.
“People are dying.”
“More people will die if we don’t pass this budget,” he said, throwing his hands up.
They stared at each other in silence. He swallowed hard.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“You sought me out,” she said. “I’m perfectly happy to go back to what I was doing before.”
Good, god - save me from this woman.He thought, his heart racing.
“You’re being really impractical,” he said. “There’s actual work that we have to get done to keep the government running; make sure people have jobs; keep everyone safe.”
“You could be doing a lot more,” she said.
He let out a snort and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Oh, really? What would you do in all of your vast experience if you were in my position?”
“Get rid of the filibuster for starters,” she said, hands on her hips.
